Flush valve



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Jan. 5, 1937.. o. R. MULLER FLUSH VALVE Filed July 15, 1955 IN V EN TOR. 0 m B. Mullr.

A TTORNEYv Patented Jan. 5, 1937 UNITED STATES FLUSH VALVE Otto R. Muller, St. Albans, N. Y., assignor to Trenton Brass & Machine Company, Trenton, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 13, 1935, Serial No. 31,204

' s Claims. (01. 4 58) My invention relates to flush valves and particularly to improved and economical constructions therefor and to methods of producing the same.

Flush valves of the type commonly used in high tank installations and elsewhere are frequently constructed with a valve seat provided with a tubular guide having openings therein to permit discharge of water from the tank and with a cooperating tubular valve member movable into and out of engagement with the valve seat. The upper portion of the valve member in such constructions i's: in the form of a tube which serves as an overflow while the lower. end of said mem- :ber -is formed from a separate 7 metal casting threaded onto the lower end of the tube. The casting is provided with an. outwardly inclined conical face, the inner surface of which is machined to' provide a smooth valve seat engaging surface. Usually the valve is also formed with a metal weight on the outer face thereof about the casting to hold the valve in engagement with the valve seat.

The casting carried by the tube is usually made rather thin and light in order to reduce the cost thereof; However, considerable difliculty is encountered in machining the valve seat engaging surface accurately due to the tendency of the light casting to be distorted by the chuck which holds the same during the machining operation. Even though the machining is carried out carefully the casting when released from the chuck frequently springs out of shape so that the inner surface is nevertheless distorted. Furthermore, the heating and cooling to which the casting is subjected when the metal weight is cast onto the same tends to produce'strains in the metal which frequently distort or warp the casting. If distortion takes place the casting must be discarded or must be remachine'd thus resulting in considerable waste or loss. However, distortion may not take place at once or may not be immediately apparent but becomes evident after the valve is in use and long after the article has been completed. Such gradual changes in the shape of the casting are presumably due to grad- :ual relief of strains produced in the material during the machining or casting operations. ,vlheneverjdistortion takes place the valve fails to seat properly so that leaks and unsatisfactory servicelresult even when the valve is made with the greatest care. 3

I have .discovered that these difficulties and disadvantages can be overcome and a valve producedwhich p esen s a u a e s t ndone which shows little. or no tendency to become distorted when in use. Furthermore such valves can be produced with fewer and less expensive manufacturing operations and with a saving in the amount of time and material'used. In accordance with my invention these .results are attained by forming the valve seat engaging surface of the valve member as an integral outwardly sloping portion of the tubular overflow memher. In av preferred embodiment of my invention this is accomplished by forming the valve seat engaging portion from a metal tube by a pressing, expanding, swaging or spinning operation. Machining and threading operations are thus reduced or eliminated, the separate casting and machining operations which heretofore have been necessary are omitted and'the cost of the material and of the manufacturing operations are considerably reduced.

One of the objects of my invention'is to provide an improved flush valve of the type described having a true valve seat engaging surface. Another object of my invention is to reduce the cost of manufacturing or producing such valves. 1 v

A further object of 'my invention is to provide a flush valve having a combination overflow and valve seat engaging member formed of metal tubing.

Another object of my invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive method of manufacturing flush valves of the type herein described.

- -Fig. 2 is a perspective of a tubular member of the type embodied in the construction of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is an illustration in section of means adapted for use in forming the tubular member of Fig. 2.

In that form of my invention chosen for purposes of illustration in the figures of the drawing the valve is located in a flush tank 2 having an outlet opening provided with a spud or nipple 4 through which water is discharged from the tank. The spud is secured in place by means of a nut B and a flange 8 and is threaded internally to receive a tubular guide It. The guide is providedi with discharge openings 12 through which the water passes when the valve is raised and with a valve seat l4 formed of rubber or other suitable material located below the openings 12 and in position to be engaged by the conical valve seat engaging surface l6 of an expanded portion l8 of the tubular valve member 20.

The upper portion of the tubular valvemember serves as an overflow whereas the inwardly facing, outwardly inclined, conical surface is of the expanded portion l8 of the valve serves asa valve seat engaging surface. When in its lowered position as shown in Fig.1 the surface [6 engages the valve seat H! to prevent discharge of water from the tank. However, when raised to operate the valve the discharge openings [2 are exposed and water flows from the tank through the spud 4.

A weight 22 is cast onto the outer surface of the expanded portion l8 of the tubular member and serves to hold the valve. in engagement with the valve seat and 'a bail or other lifting device 24 is provided for raising the valve from its seat in the operation thereof.

The overflow and valve seat engaging portions of the valve member are formed in a single piece and may conveniently be made from a length of seamless or brazed tubing formed. of brass or other metal of smaller diameter than the valve seat with the lower end thereof expanded to a diameter greater than that of the valve seat. The valve seat engaging portion of the tubular member thus constitutes an integral outwardly extending portion presenting a smooth inwardly facing surface for engaging the valve seat. In forming thetubular member a section of metal tubing of suitabledimensions is cut from a length of such tubing. The. section is thensubjected to an expanding operation by which the portion I8 is formed using a spinning, swaging or other operation as desired. Ordinarily before expanding the metal it is desirable to grind off or round the cut edges of the tube to remove any metal adjacent the cut surface that may have been hardened during the cutting operation and'which might therefore fail to expand uniformly or which might cause cracks or. splits to be produced in the tubing. However, this step is not always necessary especially when the tube is formed of metal other than brassand of course the tube may. be treated in any other suitable or preferred manner to facilitate expanding of the metal uniformly.

While the expanding operation may be carried out in any suitable manner to produce the desired result this may be readily effected as shown in Fig. 3 by placing a section of tubing'in asuitable holder 26 and forcibly movingasuitable mandrel or die 28 into engagement with the free end of the tubing. The end is thus expanded-substantially uniformly to produce an element which as shown in Fig. 2 presents a smooth conical-valve seat engagingsurface. The-thickness of the expanded portion lflnmay be decreased or tapered slightly as a result of the expanding operation butit is nevertheless expandedsubstantially uniformly so that althoughthe thickness and texture of the metal may vary from the base to the periphery of the conical portion of the member it is substantially uniform throughout its circumference. It is probable that this uniformity in the character of the metal of the expanded portion of the tubeserves as an aid'in preventing distortion of the valvesea-t engagingsurface and equalizes. any, stra i ns 1-that-.-may result from subequent heating and; cooling of thematerial when the metal weight is cast onto the expanded portion of the tube.

The weight 22 may be applied to the tube in any suitable way and may be formed of any preferred material. However, it is preferably applied by casting molten lead into contact with the outer surface of the expanded portion of the tube. The valve member is thus completed without any machining operations, other than the step of grinding off the hardened end of the tube before expanding the same, and even this step can be omitted in some cases. A very inexpensive valve is thus produced and the difficulties due to distortion of the valve seat engaging surface are eliminated or materially reduced. Furthermore, certain of the manufacturing steps heretofore necessary are eliminated and those operations performed are all very simple and inexpensive. The cost of the product is thereby reduced while the quality thereof is greatly improved.

Although I have illustrated and described a preferred form of construction and method of producing the same it will of course be understood that numerous changes and modifications may be made in the form and construction of the parts and in the method of producing and assembling the same. It should therefore be understood that the embodiment of my invention herein described is intended for purposes of illustration and is not intended to limit the scope of my invention.

I claim:

1. In combination with a flush tank having an outlet opening for the discharge of water therefrom, a valve seatsurrounding said opening and a valve for engaging said valve seat, said valve being in the form of a tubular member of smaller diameter than saidvalve seat located above said valve seat and formed with an outwardly inclined, inwardly facing valve seat engaging portion of greater diameter than said valve seat formed integral with said tubular member and located on the lower end thereof in position to engage said valve seat. a

2. In combination with a flush tank having an outlet opening for the discharge of water therefrom, a valve seat surrounding said opening and a combined overflow and valve member located above said valve seat, said member being in the form of a metal tube of smaller diameter than said valve seat having the lower portion thereof expanded to provide an integral outwardly inclined, inwardly facing, valve seat engaging portion of greater diameter than said valve seat.

3. In combination with a flush tank having an.

outlet opening for the discharge of water therefrom, a valve seat surrounding said opening and a combination valve and overflow member located above said valve seat and movable into and out of engagement therewith in the operation of said:

valve, said member being in the form of a tube communicating with said opening[ having the lower portion thereof formed with an integral outwardly inclined, inwardly facing, valve seat engaging portion of greater diameter than said;

valve seat and with a weight carried by said tube to retain the valve in engagement with said valve seat.

4. In combination with a flush tank having an outlet opening for the discharge of water there-.

from, a valve seat surrounding'said opening and a member serving as an overflow for said flush tank and as a valve for engaging said valve seat, said member being in' the form of a metal tube of smaller diameter than said valve seat having the7 lower end thereof expanded to present an integral, outwardly inclined, inwardly facing, valve seat engaging surface of greater diameter than said valve seat and with a metal weight cast onto said member about the expanded portion thereof to retain said member in engagement with said valve seat.

5. In a flush valve having a valve seat, a member for engaging said valve seat, comprising a section of metal tubing having the lower end thereof expanded into a conical portion of substantially uniform thickness and texture throughout its circumference presenting a smooth inwardly facing, valve seat engaging surface.

6. In a flush valve having a valve seat, a member for engaging said valve seat comprising a section of seamless metal, tubing having the lower end thereof expanded substantially uniformly to provide a smooth, conical, inwardly-facing, valve seat engaging surface and having a metallic weight cast onto said member and into contact with the expanded portion of said tube on the exterior thereof. v

7. The method of producing a tubular flush valve which comprises the steps of severing a section of metal tubing of a predetermined length from a length of such tubing and expanding one end of said section into a conical valve seat engaging portion.

8. The method of producing a tubular flush valve which comprises the steps of severing a section of metal tubing of a predetermined length from a length of such tubing and expanding one end of said section into a conical valve seat engaging portion of substantially uniform thickness and texture throughout its circumference and casting a metal weight onto the expanded portion of said tubing in contact with the exterior thereof. 

